Yay back to blogging!
Last Saturday night Sarah took me, my mom, and Jasmine to eat at Savoy. Before the waitress brought us the food, Sarah talked to mom about school of disciples. That was how I finally told my mom about quitting school and joining the School of Disciples. If it wasn't for Sarah I don't know when I was going to tell my mom.
The conversation didn't go too well, Mom's face was all dark and worried. So we let the topic rest and talked about other stuff.
Yesterday afternoon Mom brought up the subject again while we were talking about my bank account. Throughout that entire conversation, God gave me such peace and confidence that I was able to calmly explain to my mom about how I need to lay down everything to follow Jesus. I didn't know until later that Sarah overheard our conversation in the restroom and was praying hard for me (haha, imagine Sarah rocking back and forth, filled with Holy Spirit, praying fervently...in the restroom. Thank you sis!).
Because of Sarah's prayer, I was able to convince Mom that I was going to join the School of Disciples no matter what. My trust in Jesus increased after that conversation. I realized that I really need to know my identity: I am first God's child, and then I am my mom's child; my obedience to God is primary, and my obedience to my mom is secondary. God helped me to answer all of my mom's tough questions with His Word:
"Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.'" (Matthew16:24)
"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.'" (Matthew10:37~39)
When I told my mom that joining School of Disciples will help me depend on God more, she asked me, "Why must you test your faith like this? Why do you have to put yourself in such a position without money or anything and depend on God to provide you? Why can't you just go to school, get a job when you graduate, and serve God with your money?"
I answered that Jesus actually sent His disciples out and told them not to take any money with them:
"These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions:...Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts;take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.'" (Matthew10:5,9,10)
We really need to lay down absolutely everything, take up our cross, and follow Jesus. I for one am really excited about School of Disciples, it's like taking a vacation with Jesus!
Tuesday, September 2
Wednesday, May 14
Public Preaching!!
Monday was one crazy day.
After class I dragged my tired body to go buy some lunch, and as I walked down Ring Road I heard a young man shouting about something. As I walked closer I heard bits and pieces of "In Matthews", "Jesus", etc., and I could feel my heart racing with excitement. There he was, passionately preaching about Jesus' salvation and urging the students to repent, ignoring the weird looks people were giving him. I literally stood there, frozen, listening to him preach, silently praying for God to open these students' ears and hearts.
I wanted to go up to him, but two police officers came and made him move to another area. When the officers left I immediately went up to him to talk to him. His name was Chris and he introduced me to his pastor Michael, the pastor's wife Tamika, their friends JK and Evangelista. I found out that they have traveled to about seventy different campuses to preach. As I continued to talk with them, Michael asked me if I wanted to preach as well. I said yes so he told me that I could go after JK is done.
We watched and prayed for JK as he preached boldly the Word of God, then it was my turn. Michael prayed for me and told me to go to the open space. He came with me and he started to ask me questions loudly pretending that he is an nonbeliever, and I would answer back with an equally loud voice. Michael led me to preach about what salvation means, why only Jesus can save, why "good" people will go to hell with all the "bad" people, etc. Then he left me and I followed the Holy Spirit's lead to preach boldly about Jesus' return and how students need salvation. I saw some of my friends walking past and frowning at me, but I didn't care.
After I was done, a girl came up to me to ask me what I was doing, I shared with her and it turned out that she's also a believer. She came to UCI with some of her church members from In Christ Alone to witness to students and she invited me to join her sometimes. So we exchanged info before she left.
Then I tagged along with Michael's group as they moved to the Student Center to preach some more. While Evangelista preached, Michael and I started to talk about committing to living a life free from sin. We sat there for about two hours, digging into the Word of God. I was so encouraged by Michael and Tamika, two people so devoted to Christ in holiness and godliness. The scriptures that I've read before took on new meaning and became alive.
Before I left, Michael gave me their business card and I gave them my email, and Michael prayed for me so I'll keep on sharing about God in school.
Jesus thank You! Bless Michale, Tamika, JK, Chris, and Evangelista as they continue to preach the good news everywhere they go. Lord provide them and protect them.
More Jesus!! I want more!! Set my heart on fire for You and give me boldness!! Lord my school needs more of Your presence, won't You come and set Your people free from oppression!! Jesus come and guide Your people!! Jesus come!!
After class I dragged my tired body to go buy some lunch, and as I walked down Ring Road I heard a young man shouting about something. As I walked closer I heard bits and pieces of "In Matthews", "Jesus", etc., and I could feel my heart racing with excitement. There he was, passionately preaching about Jesus' salvation and urging the students to repent, ignoring the weird looks people were giving him. I literally stood there, frozen, listening to him preach, silently praying for God to open these students' ears and hearts.
I wanted to go up to him, but two police officers came and made him move to another area. When the officers left I immediately went up to him to talk to him. His name was Chris and he introduced me to his pastor Michael, the pastor's wife Tamika, their friends JK and Evangelista. I found out that they have traveled to about seventy different campuses to preach. As I continued to talk with them, Michael asked me if I wanted to preach as well. I said yes so he told me that I could go after JK is done.
We watched and prayed for JK as he preached boldly the Word of God, then it was my turn. Michael prayed for me and told me to go to the open space. He came with me and he started to ask me questions loudly pretending that he is an nonbeliever, and I would answer back with an equally loud voice. Michael led me to preach about what salvation means, why only Jesus can save, why "good" people will go to hell with all the "bad" people, etc. Then he left me and I followed the Holy Spirit's lead to preach boldly about Jesus' return and how students need salvation. I saw some of my friends walking past and frowning at me, but I didn't care.
After I was done, a girl came up to me to ask me what I was doing, I shared with her and it turned out that she's also a believer. She came to UCI with some of her church members from In Christ Alone to witness to students and she invited me to join her sometimes. So we exchanged info before she left.
Then I tagged along with Michael's group as they moved to the Student Center to preach some more. While Evangelista preached, Michael and I started to talk about committing to living a life free from sin. We sat there for about two hours, digging into the Word of God. I was so encouraged by Michael and Tamika, two people so devoted to Christ in holiness and godliness. The scriptures that I've read before took on new meaning and became alive.
Before I left, Michael gave me their business card and I gave them my email, and Michael prayed for me so I'll keep on sharing about God in school.
Jesus thank You! Bless Michale, Tamika, JK, Chris, and Evangelista as they continue to preach the good news everywhere they go. Lord provide them and protect them.
More Jesus!! I want more!! Set my heart on fire for You and give me boldness!! Lord my school needs more of Your presence, won't You come and set Your people free from oppression!! Jesus come and guide Your people!! Jesus come!!
Monday, April 28
"Can I Pray For You?" UCI Edition!!
Quote of The Day:
"I've noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born." (Ronald Reagan, New York Times, 22 September 1980)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today after class I began to pray walk the school, and I saw this guy with bandages on his ankle.
So I went up to him and his friend and asked whether I could pray for him, but he told me that he needed to go to class and hurriedly walked away. His name is Charles, God please give him a miracle and heal his ankle!!
After a wonderful devotion time with Jesus, I got out my "Can I pray for you? God answers prayers" poster and walked to Ring Road, where hundreds of students pass by every day to go to class, get Starbucks, buy books, hang out, and set up booths for clubs.
On my way I saw a guy using crutches and had bandages on his left leg, so I asked him if I could pray for him. But he muttered something and quickly went past me; his friend turned around and said sorry (haha, sorry for what??). In Jesus' Name, Heavenly Father I ask that You would bring miraculous healing upon him! Amen.
I found a spot among all the club booths and held up the sign, and smiled real big (thanks for the tip Johnny! ) . Whenever anyone looked instead of just ignoring, I asked if I could pray for them.
I saw this guy looking at the poster and smiling, when he came back the second time, he walked up to me and we started to talk.
His name is Louis and he just became a Christian about two years ago (praise God!), his mom has been praying for him his entire life, and he finally encountered Jesus and became crazy passionate for Him. Louis said that God always send him someone when he is feeling down, last time he was eating in the cafeteria and he accidentally spilled his drink, embarrassed, he moved to another table, and there was a guy reading the Bible! Right now Louis is reading the Bible with commentaries found online. I was so excited as I prayed for him, then he left to catch the bus.
Then I saw Katie from Intervarsity (a Christian club) and she asked me to pray for her headache, I did and she got better. She also asked me to pray for her family because someone passed away. We encouraged each other before she left.
I was kinda dizzy from the heat but I didn't want to stand in the shadows so I prayed and a cloud came to block the sun!! Thank You Jesus, You are my cloud by day!
Then a guy walked by me and I asked if I could pray for him. I found out that he was also from Intervarsity and we talked and I prayed for him.
Later on a Muslim guy walked up to me to ask what I meant by the poster. "I'm just praying for God to bless people and for whatever else they needed, " I said. "Oh, " He said and told me that he thought I meant that people need to pray through me to talk to God. Enran, that's his name, said that people should pray directly to God and not through someone else. So I offered to pray for him and he asked me to pray for his studies. I did and he left afterwards.
Lots of people gave me prayer requests but said that they didn't have time for me to pray for them right then and there, here are some of the requests:
Patrick (the guy who said sorry to me earlier): his mother is going through hard times
Evan: his grandpa has been having frequent seizures
Brittany: her boyfriend's mom is being checked for cervical cancer
Brandon and Ana: they graduated and need to find jobs
Some people gave me weird looks, some shook their heads, but most people smiled back and said thanks.
A group of touring students went past me and a girl shouted at me, "I'll pray for you too!".
It was really exciting, God You are awesome, but I wish I could get a chance to talk to more nonbelievers. Jesus I want to see a hundred students get saved this quarter, please give me a team of nine other radical Christ followers who want to see UCI being transformed by You!
Some random stuff:
I put my food in the refrigerator in the hall kitchen and someone stole my soy milk, wholewheat bread, strawberries, cheese, ham, and an apple!! (this is one healthy thief lol !!). Ok, lesson learned, I won't put anymore food there!
Praise the Lord! I got a B on my Biology midterm!!!! Amazing!!
"I've noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born." (Ronald Reagan, New York Times, 22 September 1980)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today after class I began to pray walk the school, and I saw this guy with bandages on his ankle.
So I went up to him and his friend and asked whether I could pray for him, but he told me that he needed to go to class and hurriedly walked away. His name is Charles, God please give him a miracle and heal his ankle!!
After a wonderful devotion time with Jesus, I got out my "Can I pray for you? God answers prayers" poster and walked to Ring Road, where hundreds of students pass by every day to go to class, get Starbucks, buy books, hang out, and set up booths for clubs.
On my way I saw a guy using crutches and had bandages on his left leg, so I asked him if I could pray for him. But he muttered something and quickly went past me; his friend turned around and said sorry (haha, sorry for what??). In Jesus' Name, Heavenly Father I ask that You would bring miraculous healing upon him! Amen.
I found a spot among all the club booths and held up the sign, and smiled real big (thanks for the tip Johnny! ) . Whenever anyone looked instead of just ignoring, I asked if I could pray for them.
I saw this guy looking at the poster and smiling, when he came back the second time, he walked up to me and we started to talk.
His name is Louis and he just became a Christian about two years ago (praise God!), his mom has been praying for him his entire life, and he finally encountered Jesus and became crazy passionate for Him. Louis said that God always send him someone when he is feeling down, last time he was eating in the cafeteria and he accidentally spilled his drink, embarrassed, he moved to another table, and there was a guy reading the Bible! Right now Louis is reading the Bible with commentaries found online. I was so excited as I prayed for him, then he left to catch the bus.
Then I saw Katie from Intervarsity (a Christian club) and she asked me to pray for her headache, I did and she got better. She also asked me to pray for her family because someone passed away. We encouraged each other before she left.
I was kinda dizzy from the heat but I didn't want to stand in the shadows so I prayed and a cloud came to block the sun!! Thank You Jesus, You are my cloud by day!
Then a guy walked by me and I asked if I could pray for him. I found out that he was also from Intervarsity and we talked and I prayed for him.
Later on a Muslim guy walked up to me to ask what I meant by the poster. "I'm just praying for God to bless people and for whatever else they needed, " I said. "Oh, " He said and told me that he thought I meant that people need to pray through me to talk to God. Enran, that's his name, said that people should pray directly to God and not through someone else. So I offered to pray for him and he asked me to pray for his studies. I did and he left afterwards.
Lots of people gave me prayer requests but said that they didn't have time for me to pray for them right then and there, here are some of the requests:
Patrick (the guy who said sorry to me earlier): his mother is going through hard times
Evan: his grandpa has been having frequent seizures
Brittany: her boyfriend's mom is being checked for cervical cancer
Brandon and Ana: they graduated and need to find jobs
Some people gave me weird looks, some shook their heads, but most people smiled back and said thanks.
A group of touring students went past me and a girl shouted at me, "I'll pray for you too!".
It was really exciting, God You are awesome, but I wish I could get a chance to talk to more nonbelievers. Jesus I want to see a hundred students get saved this quarter, please give me a team of nine other radical Christ followers who want to see UCI being transformed by You!
Some random stuff:
I put my food in the refrigerator in the hall kitchen and someone stole my soy milk, wholewheat bread, strawberries, cheese, ham, and an apple!! (this is one healthy thief lol !!). Ok, lesson learned, I won't put anymore food there!
Praise the Lord! I got a B on my Biology midterm!!!! Amazing!!
Tuesday, April 22
Homeless Shelter Visit
This morning after class I pray walked my campus, and I felt so excited because I knew that I was doing what God wanted me to do. Jesus come and invade my school!!
I still didn't find another person to fast and pray for UCI with me, but before that happens, it's just me and God (which is awesome anyways).
In the evening I went on another visit to a homeless shelter with Intervarsity. This time there was David, Jessica, Henry, Waily, me, and another guy. We went to a shelter called "Catholic Worker", the owner originally just had a few people come to eat dinner with him, but they stayed there and soon he just remodeled his house and opened it as a shelter.
There were flies everywhere, the house smelled of fresh paint, and a crowd was gathering in the yard. We played with the kids, served dinner, and got to know a lot of the people.
Waily talked to a lady who was fired from her job and became unemployed. He encouraged her and prayed for her.
Henry asked the kids who their best friends were, and when he shared who his best friend was, he got to tell them about Jesus.
I was serving dinner when I overheard someone complaining about leg pain. I immediately turned around and asked the lady what happened to her leg. Monka, the lady, told me that her legs started to swell a few days ago and it was so painful that she could no longer walk. So I asked if I could pray for her, she said yes and asked me to also pray for her to get a job so she could support her husband and daughter. I prayed, and even though she didn't get healed immediately, we started to talk. Monka had been abused by her mother when she was young, then she became an orphan after both her parents died, and she was abused in the orphanage. She used to be filled with anger and would pick a fight with anyone, but when she started to go to church and counseling, her bitterness subsided. Though she's going through so much pain in life, she always encourages her family that God is good and He will help them.
Oh Jesus, there are so many people who are suffering, who need love. My $20 and volunteer work can only do so much, Jesus You are the One they need! God give me more chances to share Your love with these people.
I still didn't find another person to fast and pray for UCI with me, but before that happens, it's just me and God (which is awesome anyways).
In the evening I went on another visit to a homeless shelter with Intervarsity. This time there was David, Jessica, Henry, Waily, me, and another guy. We went to a shelter called "Catholic Worker", the owner originally just had a few people come to eat dinner with him, but they stayed there and soon he just remodeled his house and opened it as a shelter.
There were flies everywhere, the house smelled of fresh paint, and a crowd was gathering in the yard. We played with the kids, served dinner, and got to know a lot of the people.
Waily talked to a lady who was fired from her job and became unemployed. He encouraged her and prayed for her.
Henry asked the kids who their best friends were, and when he shared who his best friend was, he got to tell them about Jesus.
I was serving dinner when I overheard someone complaining about leg pain. I immediately turned around and asked the lady what happened to her leg. Monka, the lady, told me that her legs started to swell a few days ago and it was so painful that she could no longer walk. So I asked if I could pray for her, she said yes and asked me to also pray for her to get a job so she could support her husband and daughter. I prayed, and even though she didn't get healed immediately, we started to talk. Monka had been abused by her mother when she was young, then she became an orphan after both her parents died, and she was abused in the orphanage. She used to be filled with anger and would pick a fight with anyone, but when she started to go to church and counseling, her bitterness subsided. Though she's going through so much pain in life, she always encourages her family that God is good and He will help them.
Oh Jesus, there are so many people who are suffering, who need love. My $20 and volunteer work can only do so much, Jesus You are the One they need! God give me more chances to share Your love with these people.
Friday, April 18
Blog Before Bed...
WOW, it's been FOREVER since I last blogged...
I just read through everyone's posts and was so excited with what God's doing in everyone's lives...
The Lord is also doing amazing things to me, after the retreat, my devotions became so different, so much sweeter. Instead of singing, I was worshiping from the heart, instead of monologuing, I was prophesying and declaring what I was praying about. God is wonderful...when I spend time with Him I'm simply putting everything away, dropping all other thoughts and just listen to Him, and He has a lot to say.
God also helped me to manage my time and actually finish my homework and studies on time, wow, that's totally supernatural and miraculous, seriously. Jesus is awesome, He isn't just in church or when I do city invasions, He's in my dorm, in my classroom, in my study hall, in my friend's dorm...He is in every part of my life, my everything.
So how was the conference tonight everyone? I'll be there tomorrow afternoon!!! Can't wait!!!!!
I just read through everyone's posts and was so excited with what God's doing in everyone's lives...
The Lord is also doing amazing things to me, after the retreat, my devotions became so different, so much sweeter. Instead of singing, I was worshiping from the heart, instead of monologuing, I was prophesying and declaring what I was praying about. God is wonderful...when I spend time with Him I'm simply putting everything away, dropping all other thoughts and just listen to Him, and He has a lot to say.
God also helped me to manage my time and actually finish my homework and studies on time, wow, that's totally supernatural and miraculous, seriously. Jesus is awesome, He isn't just in church or when I do city invasions, He's in my dorm, in my classroom, in my study hall, in my friend's dorm...He is in every part of my life, my everything.
So how was the conference tonight everyone? I'll be there tomorrow afternoon!!! Can't wait!!!!!
Tuesday, April 1
Learning To Let Go
Jesus gave me a big lollipop.
It was swirly, sparkling pink, shiny, and perfect.
I was soaking in His presence during Sunday worship, and I saw Jesus, with lots of light behind Him, handing me this sweet gift.
I felt Him saying to me, "I love you so much, you are my beloved treasure, and I want to lavish you with gifts" Oh Jesus thank You! You are not a stingy God, You are a Heavenly Father who loves without holding back and pours down good things upon Your children. My heart was so moved by His love, so blown away by His grace; tears started falling down my cheeks (great, I'm crying again, Lord when will you let me experience holy laughter? ;p)
Ever since I got prophesied by the kids at Bethel Church, I've been experiencing God's love and affections for me on a new level. I realized that God doesn't just love us, He cherishes us, and He doesn't just give us the things we need, He also gives us gifts to make us happy!...God wants me to be happy? No way! I thought He just wants me to suffer, to learn from persecutions, and to receive occasional peace. That is not true, our God loves us and wants to fill our hearts with joy. Praise You Jesus!
I also learned at Bethel Church to let God take control. Funny, I thought I've always let God take control: "God I put my biology test into Your hands...please let me get no lower than a B!", "God I give this day to You...here's a list of things I want You to do for me!", "God I give today's 7-11 meeting to You...please show up during worship, prayer, and oh, help me with my sharing!" But the Lord gently showed me that I've only trusted Him with my words and not my heart or actions.
So I let God take control during 7-11 meeting, I let God do whatever He wants with me during Sunday worship, I let Jesus tell me what to do this Monday morning, and I gave Jesus full lordship over my heart and my life.
On Monday morning, I asked God, "Lord what do You want me to do today?". "Pray for ten people and tell them I love them" He said. So I obeyed and His love and joy filled me. In the afternoon, I found out that my friend Cindy lost her room key somewhere on her way back from the bookstore. So I prayed and went to look for it with her. Amazingly, I found in on the ground on Ring Road where hundreds of students were walking around! It was really fortunate that no one picked it up or stepped on it and damaged it! I was shouting hallelujah and we jumped up and down in joy. Cindy told me that she was praying too when we were looking for the key. During lunch, I shared with her how God returned Bill's lost knife to him, and other miracles and divine healings at Redding.
Cool things happen when we step aside and let God take over. I also realized that by giving God full control, I can see visions and hear God's voice much easier now.
Jesus, I'm all Yours!
It was swirly, sparkling pink, shiny, and perfect.
I was soaking in His presence during Sunday worship, and I saw Jesus, with lots of light behind Him, handing me this sweet gift.
I felt Him saying to me, "I love you so much, you are my beloved treasure, and I want to lavish you with gifts" Oh Jesus thank You! You are not a stingy God, You are a Heavenly Father who loves without holding back and pours down good things upon Your children. My heart was so moved by His love, so blown away by His grace; tears started falling down my cheeks (great, I'm crying again, Lord when will you let me experience holy laughter? ;p)
Ever since I got prophesied by the kids at Bethel Church, I've been experiencing God's love and affections for me on a new level. I realized that God doesn't just love us, He cherishes us, and He doesn't just give us the things we need, He also gives us gifts to make us happy!...God wants me to be happy? No way! I thought He just wants me to suffer, to learn from persecutions, and to receive occasional peace. That is not true, our God loves us and wants to fill our hearts with joy. Praise You Jesus!
I also learned at Bethel Church to let God take control. Funny, I thought I've always let God take control: "God I put my biology test into Your hands...please let me get no lower than a B!", "God I give this day to You...here's a list of things I want You to do for me!", "God I give today's 7-11 meeting to You...please show up during worship, prayer, and oh, help me with my sharing!" But the Lord gently showed me that I've only trusted Him with my words and not my heart or actions.
So I let God take control during 7-11 meeting, I let God do whatever He wants with me during Sunday worship, I let Jesus tell me what to do this Monday morning, and I gave Jesus full lordship over my heart and my life.
On Monday morning, I asked God, "Lord what do You want me to do today?". "Pray for ten people and tell them I love them" He said. So I obeyed and His love and joy filled me. In the afternoon, I found out that my friend Cindy lost her room key somewhere on her way back from the bookstore. So I prayed and went to look for it with her. Amazingly, I found in on the ground on Ring Road where hundreds of students were walking around! It was really fortunate that no one picked it up or stepped on it and damaged it! I was shouting hallelujah and we jumped up and down in joy. Cindy told me that she was praying too when we were looking for the key. During lunch, I shared with her how God returned Bill's lost knife to him, and other miracles and divine healings at Redding.
Cool things happen when we step aside and let God take over. I also realized that by giving God full control, I can see visions and hear God's voice much easier now.
Jesus, I'm all Yours!
Monday, March 24
Crying Out At Pasadena's Abortion Clinic
God is so good.
Remember Shin encouraged us to go pray and pass out flyers at an abortion clinic? Well we found this Planned Parenthood thingy in Pasadena. Basically they do counseling for parents, people who are becoming parents; they have abortion services; they are advocating pro-choice.
So this morning, after my driving test (praise the Lord I paaassed!), I went to join John and Sarah who were already there. Apparently people from the clinic made them leave so they had to move to the bus stop (which was right in front of the clinic anyways, plus it has shade and benches).
So we had two big signs: “God Loves You and Your Baby” and “Inside You Is A Miracle of Life”, we put red tape with the word “LIFE” written in black on our mouths, and we prayed.
Then we saw a young girl walking towards the clinic entrance, Sarah immediately torn off her tape (ouch!) and walked to her. This girl found out she was pregnant and wanted an abortion, but after Sarah talked to her and prayed for her, she decided not to abort her baby and left! HALLELUJAH GOD SAVED A LIFE!!!!!! And soon Shin joined us, put on the tape, and held up the sign (she’s amazing, she stood there in the blazing sun for soo long and never sat down! Oh, and she made dozens of awesome flyers for us to pass out!).
As we continued to pray, and I saw a girl wearing a black tank top about to cross the streets (ok, here’s the thing, Johnny has the LIFE tape over his mouth right? And he would spot these people before we do and he would poke one of us and point to that person so we can pray for her XD). I went to her and said, “Hi, I just wanna tell you that God loves you and God bless you. Is there anything I can pray for you about?” She told me to pray for her “problems”, and for her son. I was like wow because she’s my age! Her name is Eennie and her baby son’s name is Ezekiel. Currently Eennie is working but she would like to go back to school again. So I prayed for her, I praised God for the courageous she made to keep the baby, and I blessed this little family.
Then we split up to two groups: John and Shin stayed on one side, Sarah and I went across the street. Eennie was there waiting for the bus, so I went up to her again. I told her what we were doing, and asked her how she decided not to abort. “It was hard,” she said, “When I found out at 17 that I was pregnant, I panicked, I didn’t know what to do, what to think, or even what to feel. I was especially worried about what my mom’s gonna think of me. Abortion was one of my options. But my baby was already 3 months old, he has hands, legs, eyes, everything, and I just couldn’t do it. So I kept the baby, and I’ve never being so happy…he’s so smart, and so cute! And my mom accepted him and took care of him when I go to work. His dad comes once a week to spend time with him, and every time the dad comes to take him away, I would feel so lonely. I loved my son!” Oh God praise You! I gave her my number and told her to call me anytime to needs encouragement, prayer, or anything. As we talked, another lady walked up to us. Her name was Olivia and she works across from the clinic; she said that she was very encouraged by what we are doing because she has been praying for the clinic (Praise God!!). I found out from her that Planned Parenthood came out of no where and hasn’t been there for very long. Lord let Your kingdom fall in this place and end abortion!
We kept praying and waving our signs when all of sudden Johnny started to preach! He shouted at the top of his voice, proclaiming God’s love and declaring that all lives are valuable. He told every car that passes “God loves you, my friend!”, he shouted about the millions of lives lost, about how “Terrorism can never end, but abortion can!”, and he even walked to the middle of the intersection during a red light to preach to the cars waiting for the green light!!!! Sarah and I were just like omg and were so encouraged.
Lots of cars honked at us, gave us thumbs ups, a couple people stopped to encourage us, and some gave us the finger, cussed at us, and this one lady shouted at John about how instead of doing this we should be “helping those who really need help, like going to Iraq”….yea, but strangely, no matter how they opposed us, I didn’t feel discouraged. Usually I would feel pretty bad when people criticize me, but today, even when a man yelled “F*** You!” at me, I didn’t care! It’s like God’s put a protection around me and I just wanted to share His love with them! Sarah said that she felt that way, too!
When Sarah yelled out “God loves you!”, I started yelling too! I wanted to let these people know that God loves them, loves every one He created, and that abortion breaks His heart. Even when John and Sarah left, and it was just Shin and me, I wasn’t scared to preach during red lights, to proclaim the truth about abortion and God’s love. Wow, Go GOD!
Then Jasmine joined us and she passed out a bunch of fliers to people entering and leaving the clinic. Soon Sarah came back, along with her entire crew from UCR: Ruth, Bryan, and Karen. We all prayed, cried out, and Sarah started preaching (it was amazing, there was power in her words, and she wasn’t afraid to tell people straight to their faces that abortion is WRONG). The Holy Spirit was moving among us.
Then we prayed for an old couple, Stephanie and Porqui. After we prayed for them, Stephanie’s left wrist, which was smashed and broken at many places, stopped hurting! She was like, “…It doesn’t hurt anymore!!” PRAISE THE LORD!!
Finally we joined hands in prayer. I left with Sarah and her friends, and Jasmine and Shin stayed. It was already 3 in the afternoon, we’ve been there for 4 hours.
So many other things happened, and my heart is still pounding fast in excitement.
GOD YOU ARE GOOD!!!
This is just the beginning.
Thursday, March 20
Tuesday, March 18
Visit To Santa Ana Homeless Shelter
Today I went with Intervarsity to serve at Santa Ana Homeless Shelter.
So I prayed about it this morning, "Jesus!! Please show up at the shelter tonight! God what they need the most isn't food, it's love and salvation from You! Jesus let Your Holy Spirit fill up that place! Lord if we just smile and hand them blankets and food, then what's the difference between us and other volunteers? What's the difference if we don't share Your eternal life, Your hope, love, and salvation with Them? God let Your mighty hand move today!"
At 4:15pm, I met up with Michael (my small group leader), Natalie (a senior), and Katie (a sophomore). We talked alot on our way there, Natalie shared how Intervarsity helped her to be more personal with God, how her brother went on China mission trips, etc., and I shared Impact's mission statement, my own conviction to evangelize more, what city invasions are, how Jack always tells us that we need to cry out for this generation, etc.
When we finally arrived, I saw the group of homeless people with their carts loaded with stuff, their weary faces, and I became nervous. Ok, this is it God. I prayed silently. Don't let this night slip by without miracles, without the outpour of Your love among them!
So we signed in and made name tags; on mine I wrote: "Hi I'm Alice. God Loves You " with a big smiley face, and I slapped it right on my jacket.
Our first task was distributing blankets. As the people came in, they get checked and scanned by guards, they show their ID, sign in, get a ticket, and use the ticket to obtain blankets. I smile real big and greeted the people with "Hello sir, hello ma'am, here you go, God bless you!", most of them said thank you and left with the blankets. Some simply snatched the blankets without a word, some complained that the blankets were too tacky, some were angry that there were no towels left (there were only 25 towels for men and 25 towels for women to shower). One man made fun of my name tag, chanting in a sing song voice, "I'm Alice. God loves you, oh I'm so happy", I didn't know how to respond and my partner actually burst out laughing. Ha, real funny.
Then a big African American woman came towards us, her face down cast, with one hand holding on to her right cheek, and one holding out the ticket. I gave her a blanket and asked, "What's wrong? Are you ok?" She replied that her teeth hurts really bad, so I asked whether I could pray for her. She simply said "Yeah let me get settled down first" and walked away.
After a while I saw her sitting down against the wall on a mat, holding her cheek, her stuff all around her, and her spirited son running around. When there wasn't so many people, I went to her and asked her, "Hey, how are you feeling? Your teeth still hurt?" she said yeah and that she was exhausted, that she didn't sleep for two nights, and that she went to the emergency room last night, but they didn't do anything to treat her, they just gave her some medicine. "Can I pray for you?" I asked again, "God can heal you. You know, a friend of mine once prayed for a guy without knuckles and the knuckles grew back right on the spot! Another time, a guy with a cast and crutches were prayed for and he got completely healed!" She replied that she believes that God heals and that she's a Christian. So I put my hand on Felicia's (her name) shoulder and commanded the pain to leave, for God's kingdom to come upon her, for God's love and peace to fill her and let her know that He'll provide for her. Then I asked how she felt. She said that it feels better now, but the pain wasn't completely gone. So I prayed for her again, and I asked her did she feel something when I prayed. She said "Yeah, I can feel the pain lifting away both times you prayed for me." PRAISE THE LORD!! I offered to pray for her again, but she wanted to get food first. So I went to get food for her and her kids.
By now the gym was filled with people. There were families, couples, old man and woman, some nicely dressed, some wearing rags; lots of people were crippled and limped around; there were really young kids, barely ten, running around, laughing, playing. There was a kid named Joey, such a sweet boy, with large eyes and a bright smile; he ran to us and happily announced, "I'm gonna be nine this April!" As I looked at the sea of people, my heart broke and I fought to keep the tears back. Oh God, they need You! They need love! They need someone that cares!
As I helped out at the food line, I greeted each person warmly, they all gratefully accepted the food and thanked everyone, some people stared at my name tag and this tall man told me, "God loves you, too Alice. You know that?" I got to know some people, and they talked about their lives.
After everyone's fed, I wandered to where some people were watching a basketball game on TV. Then I asked this elderly man besides me, "so which team do you like?" The man smiled at me, he had such kind eyes, and we started to chat.
His name was David and he used to play all kinds of sports: basketball, baseball, football, and he won fourth place in a big tournament, then he got sick. "I was diagnosed with lymph node cancer two days before my 50th birthday, what a gift," he chuckled dryly. David was in the final stages and had suffered countless chemo therapies that made him lost his taste buds, made his body age faster, though now he is in remission and feels a lot better. I offered to pray for him and told him that God can heal and shared some testimonies of divine healing. "Oh I pray," David replied, "I pray alot, I don't kneel down, I don't say it out loud, but I pray" Then he fished out a small, wrinkled piece of paper from his wallet and showed it to me, "I've carried that around for years now". On the piece of paper were Bible verses: "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." (Isaiah41:10)...
I read the verses out loud, then David explained how God has helped him, and his eyes welled up with tears. " Can I give you a hug? " I asked, "Sure" David said. So I hugged this fragile man and prayed for him while still holding him, and we said amen together. I told him God is going to heal him, and he said he believes that too. I offered to bring the Intervarsity people over and pray for him, but he really didn't want to.
It was time to leave, we said goodbye and some people told us to come back soon.
God watch over Felicia and her children, watch over little Joey and his brother, watch over Mario, watch over Peter, watch over Tony, and watch over David.
Lord thank You for this night! Thank You for opening my eyes to see that there are so many people who needs love, and that I've been so richly blessed.
So I prayed about it this morning, "Jesus!! Please show up at the shelter tonight! God what they need the most isn't food, it's love and salvation from You! Jesus let Your Holy Spirit fill up that place! Lord if we just smile and hand them blankets and food, then what's the difference between us and other volunteers? What's the difference if we don't share Your eternal life, Your hope, love, and salvation with Them? God let Your mighty hand move today!"
At 4:15pm, I met up with Michael (my small group leader), Natalie (a senior), and Katie (a sophomore). We talked alot on our way there, Natalie shared how Intervarsity helped her to be more personal with God, how her brother went on China mission trips, etc., and I shared Impact's mission statement, my own conviction to evangelize more, what city invasions are, how Jack always tells us that we need to cry out for this generation, etc.
When we finally arrived, I saw the group of homeless people with their carts loaded with stuff, their weary faces, and I became nervous. Ok, this is it God. I prayed silently. Don't let this night slip by without miracles, without the outpour of Your love among them!
So we signed in and made name tags; on mine I wrote: "Hi I'm Alice. God Loves You " with a big smiley face, and I slapped it right on my jacket.
Our first task was distributing blankets. As the people came in, they get checked and scanned by guards, they show their ID, sign in, get a ticket, and use the ticket to obtain blankets. I smile real big and greeted the people with "Hello sir, hello ma'am, here you go, God bless you!", most of them said thank you and left with the blankets. Some simply snatched the blankets without a word, some complained that the blankets were too tacky, some were angry that there were no towels left (there were only 25 towels for men and 25 towels for women to shower). One man made fun of my name tag, chanting in a sing song voice, "I'm Alice. God loves you, oh I'm so happy", I didn't know how to respond and my partner actually burst out laughing. Ha, real funny.
Then a big African American woman came towards us, her face down cast, with one hand holding on to her right cheek, and one holding out the ticket. I gave her a blanket and asked, "What's wrong? Are you ok?" She replied that her teeth hurts really bad, so I asked whether I could pray for her. She simply said "Yeah let me get settled down first" and walked away.
After a while I saw her sitting down against the wall on a mat, holding her cheek, her stuff all around her, and her spirited son running around. When there wasn't so many people, I went to her and asked her, "Hey, how are you feeling? Your teeth still hurt?" she said yeah and that she was exhausted, that she didn't sleep for two nights, and that she went to the emergency room last night, but they didn't do anything to treat her, they just gave her some medicine. "Can I pray for you?" I asked again, "God can heal you. You know, a friend of mine once prayed for a guy without knuckles and the knuckles grew back right on the spot! Another time, a guy with a cast and crutches were prayed for and he got completely healed!" She replied that she believes that God heals and that she's a Christian. So I put my hand on Felicia's (her name) shoulder and commanded the pain to leave, for God's kingdom to come upon her, for God's love and peace to fill her and let her know that He'll provide for her. Then I asked how she felt. She said that it feels better now, but the pain wasn't completely gone. So I prayed for her again, and I asked her did she feel something when I prayed. She said "Yeah, I can feel the pain lifting away both times you prayed for me." PRAISE THE LORD!! I offered to pray for her again, but she wanted to get food first. So I went to get food for her and her kids.
By now the gym was filled with people. There were families, couples, old man and woman, some nicely dressed, some wearing rags; lots of people were crippled and limped around; there were really young kids, barely ten, running around, laughing, playing. There was a kid named Joey, such a sweet boy, with large eyes and a bright smile; he ran to us and happily announced, "I'm gonna be nine this April!" As I looked at the sea of people, my heart broke and I fought to keep the tears back. Oh God, they need You! They need love! They need someone that cares!
As I helped out at the food line, I greeted each person warmly, they all gratefully accepted the food and thanked everyone, some people stared at my name tag and this tall man told me, "God loves you, too Alice. You know that?" I got to know some people, and they talked about their lives.
After everyone's fed, I wandered to where some people were watching a basketball game on TV. Then I asked this elderly man besides me, "so which team do you like?" The man smiled at me, he had such kind eyes, and we started to chat.
His name was David and he used to play all kinds of sports: basketball, baseball, football, and he won fourth place in a big tournament, then he got sick. "I was diagnosed with lymph node cancer two days before my 50th birthday, what a gift," he chuckled dryly. David was in the final stages and had suffered countless chemo therapies that made him lost his taste buds, made his body age faster, though now he is in remission and feels a lot better. I offered to pray for him and told him that God can heal and shared some testimonies of divine healing. "Oh I pray," David replied, "I pray alot, I don't kneel down, I don't say it out loud, but I pray" Then he fished out a small, wrinkled piece of paper from his wallet and showed it to me, "I've carried that around for years now". On the piece of paper were Bible verses: "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." (Isaiah41:10)...
I read the verses out loud, then David explained how God has helped him, and his eyes welled up with tears. " Can I give you a hug? " I asked, "Sure" David said. So I hugged this fragile man and prayed for him while still holding him, and we said amen together. I told him God is going to heal him, and he said he believes that too. I offered to bring the Intervarsity people over and pray for him, but he really didn't want to.
It was time to leave, we said goodbye and some people told us to come back soon.
God watch over Felicia and her children, watch over little Joey and his brother, watch over Mario, watch over Peter, watch over Tony, and watch over David.
Lord thank You for this night! Thank You for opening my eyes to see that there are so many people who needs love, and that I've been so richly blessed.
Monday, March 17
His Kingdom is HERE and NOW!!
After School Fun - Feb 23
This is what we heard from Richard...
Nate and I had a blast last Thursday (January 24th) after school at the high school. Nate's been going pretty much every week for a while, so I wanted to join in the fun. We like to go and hang out with the kids after school and do prophetic and power evangelism.
Last time I went we met a guy who'd been hooked on pain killers because of acute back pain. He'd told us if he stopped taking the pain killers he felt terrible, and his back would hurt too much. So he had to take them every single day, it was basically an addiction. He let us pray for him, and we prayed in Jesus name for his back to be healed, and for the addiction to be broken. When we met him this time, he told us: "Since you prayed for me 2 weeks ago I haven't taken a single pain killer, and my back is healed!". That was a good start, so we praised God and pressed on.
Then we chatted to a group of kids, and started praying for them prophetically. Two were backslidden Christians and one was a wiccan. One of the girls said she had knee pain: Her knee were damaged during a game of baseball a year ago, and the pain was constant ever since. She said the pain was about 5/10. We prayed for her in Jesus name.. But nothing happened, which made some kids laugh. But that's OK.... So we prayed again. This time we felt the presence of God very strongly. She said "that's weird.. it doesn't hurt as much." I asked her if we could pray one more time. This time there was tons of heat on her knee (weird for a cold January day). We commanded the knee to come into alignment with Heaven, and prayed "in Jesus name be healed". Then she flexed her knee: "Oh my gosh... It's totally better. It doesn't hurt at all. Wow!!!" That opened up an amazing opportunity to share Christ with her wiccan friend.
Next we went and stood near one of the exits to the school. A couple of kids let us prophesy over them, which drew a crowd. Then a guy came out of the school on crutches. He'd sprained his knee and it was swollen. Nate started praying for him. One kid shouted "that's not real", but then the kid on crutches felt his knee: "I'm afraid so guys! It's totally better". He then handed me his crutches, rolled up his trouser leg, and took off his knee bandage: No swelling. Nate told him to jump. He started jumping around outside the school. The kids went nuts. We just kept saying "God is real. Jesus is alive, and he loves healing people. He's the same yesterday, today and forever."
That caused a Jewish teenager to come over to us. He said "I am Jewish and I don't believe in Jesus. But I have tendonitis in my elbow, and it really hurts. If you heal my elbow in Jesus' name then I'll believe in him." So Nate lay hands on his elbow and started praying. After a couple of minutes Nate said "Now stretch out your arm". The guy did so... Felt his elbow... Looked at Nate... Then looked back at his elbow.... Then shouted "Ahh!!!!!" And simply ran away down the street. He was pretty shaken up when he realised he was healed. Nate is still hunting for him to make sure he follows up on his promise!
There were two other healings that afternoon. Right there in front of the school exit, with kids watching from the school bus windows. Five healings in one hour. Every person we prayed for.
The Kingdom of God is here and now!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The above sharing came from Jesus Culture's testimony page, totally recommend everyone to check out the awesome things God is doing right now everywhere in America!!
God let Your presence fall on my campus!! Use me to shine the light! Let the Holy Spirit move and perform signs, wonders, divine healings, and prophecies!!
This is what we heard from Richard...
Nate and I had a blast last Thursday (January 24th) after school at the high school. Nate's been going pretty much every week for a while, so I wanted to join in the fun. We like to go and hang out with the kids after school and do prophetic and power evangelism.
Last time I went we met a guy who'd been hooked on pain killers because of acute back pain. He'd told us if he stopped taking the pain killers he felt terrible, and his back would hurt too much. So he had to take them every single day, it was basically an addiction. He let us pray for him, and we prayed in Jesus name for his back to be healed, and for the addiction to be broken. When we met him this time, he told us: "Since you prayed for me 2 weeks ago I haven't taken a single pain killer, and my back is healed!". That was a good start, so we praised God and pressed on.
Then we chatted to a group of kids, and started praying for them prophetically. Two were backslidden Christians and one was a wiccan. One of the girls said she had knee pain: Her knee were damaged during a game of baseball a year ago, and the pain was constant ever since. She said the pain was about 5/10. We prayed for her in Jesus name.. But nothing happened, which made some kids laugh. But that's OK.... So we prayed again. This time we felt the presence of God very strongly. She said "that's weird.. it doesn't hurt as much." I asked her if we could pray one more time. This time there was tons of heat on her knee (weird for a cold January day). We commanded the knee to come into alignment with Heaven, and prayed "in Jesus name be healed". Then she flexed her knee: "Oh my gosh... It's totally better. It doesn't hurt at all. Wow!!!" That opened up an amazing opportunity to share Christ with her wiccan friend.
Next we went and stood near one of the exits to the school. A couple of kids let us prophesy over them, which drew a crowd. Then a guy came out of the school on crutches. He'd sprained his knee and it was swollen. Nate started praying for him. One kid shouted "that's not real", but then the kid on crutches felt his knee: "I'm afraid so guys! It's totally better". He then handed me his crutches, rolled up his trouser leg, and took off his knee bandage: No swelling. Nate told him to jump. He started jumping around outside the school. The kids went nuts. We just kept saying "God is real. Jesus is alive, and he loves healing people. He's the same yesterday, today and forever."
That caused a Jewish teenager to come over to us. He said "I am Jewish and I don't believe in Jesus. But I have tendonitis in my elbow, and it really hurts. If you heal my elbow in Jesus' name then I'll believe in him." So Nate lay hands on his elbow and started praying. After a couple of minutes Nate said "Now stretch out your arm". The guy did so... Felt his elbow... Looked at Nate... Then looked back at his elbow.... Then shouted "Ahh!!!!!" And simply ran away down the street. He was pretty shaken up when he realised he was healed. Nate is still hunting for him to make sure he follows up on his promise!
There were two other healings that afternoon. Right there in front of the school exit, with kids watching from the school bus windows. Five healings in one hour. Every person we prayed for.
The Kingdom of God is here and now!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The above sharing came from Jesus Culture's testimony page, totally recommend everyone to check out the awesome things God is doing right now everywhere in America!!
God let Your presence fall on my campus!! Use me to shine the light! Let the Holy Spirit move and perform signs, wonders, divine healings, and prophecies!!
Thursday, March 13
Time To Chill and Be Still
Tonight I went to check out a Christian club called Intervarsity.
When I walked in, there were about 40 people, seated comfortably, listening to a young man sharing about the goodness of God. Shortly after we started to worship; we sang "God of Light", "How Great is Our God", etc. It was awesome, God's glorious presence was so gentle and moving in that little room.
Then a beautiful lady named Megan started to share about the importance of resting in God.
In today's fast paced society, people often work themselves to death from dawn to dusk, and even late at night they refused to sleep and buried themselves in technology.
Many Christians are like that too, so why do we refuse to rest from working and simply quiet down before the Lord? Well...
1. We find our identity from our accomplishments (eg., I'm a straight A student, a successful missionary, a wealthy businessman, etc.)
2. We value our work more than our health (eg., even with a severe headache and high fever, I still force myself to do that extra credit assignment)
3. We simply don't trust God to provide for us or we are unwilling to give Him the control in our lives
4. We are trying to avoid God for fear of what He'll tell us or reveal to us about ourselves when we listen to Him
We NEED to rest! Even God rested on the seventh day after creation, who are we to say that we don't need rest?
God helped His people to take breaks:
1. In the wilderness, God gave mana (a food from heaven) to the Israelites everyday except the seventh day(cool!). On the sixth day, God would pour down a double amount of mana so His people can rest from collecting the mana on the seventh day(even cooler!).
2. God commanded us to rest on Sundays, and to use that day to simply fellowship with Him.
3. The Israelites would take a whole year off, not doing any farming, any kind of work, every fifty years. It was called the Year of Jubilee. (Hey...I want that!!)
When we rest, stop the things that we're doing, and be still before God, we would realize that we need God, that we are weak, and that would make us humble (good!). We would also realize that God loves us not for the things we do, but for who we are.
When we are before the Lord, all our identities melt away, we are no longer pastor's kids, worship leaders, etc., instead we are simply God's children, His precious beloved ones.
Yes, God called us to serve, to love people, to be productive, but that's not what makes Him love us.
When Jesus got baptized, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him and Father God said, "This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased." God told Jesus that He loved Him and is pleased with Him even before Jesus really did anything yet!
We need to trust in God and rest in Him, He is not a God who tells us "toughen up, will you?!" when we are exhausted; no, He is a God who tells us "Let all who are tired and weary come to me, and they will find rest in me."
AMEN!!!
It was a really great first meeting, I look forward to the small group gatherings!
God is SO Good!!!
When I walked in, there were about 40 people, seated comfortably, listening to a young man sharing about the goodness of God. Shortly after we started to worship; we sang "God of Light", "How Great is Our God", etc. It was awesome, God's glorious presence was so gentle and moving in that little room.
Then a beautiful lady named Megan started to share about the importance of resting in God.
In today's fast paced society, people often work themselves to death from dawn to dusk, and even late at night they refused to sleep and buried themselves in technology.
Many Christians are like that too, so why do we refuse to rest from working and simply quiet down before the Lord? Well...
1. We find our identity from our accomplishments (eg., I'm a straight A student, a successful missionary, a wealthy businessman, etc.)
2. We value our work more than our health (eg., even with a severe headache and high fever, I still force myself to do that extra credit assignment)
3. We simply don't trust God to provide for us or we are unwilling to give Him the control in our lives
4. We are trying to avoid God for fear of what He'll tell us or reveal to us about ourselves when we listen to Him
We NEED to rest! Even God rested on the seventh day after creation, who are we to say that we don't need rest?
God helped His people to take breaks:
1. In the wilderness, God gave mana (a food from heaven) to the Israelites everyday except the seventh day(cool!). On the sixth day, God would pour down a double amount of mana so His people can rest from collecting the mana on the seventh day(even cooler!).
2. God commanded us to rest on Sundays, and to use that day to simply fellowship with Him.
3. The Israelites would take a whole year off, not doing any farming, any kind of work, every fifty years. It was called the Year of Jubilee. (Hey...I want that!!)
When we rest, stop the things that we're doing, and be still before God, we would realize that we need God, that we are weak, and that would make us humble (good!). We would also realize that God loves us not for the things we do, but for who we are.
When we are before the Lord, all our identities melt away, we are no longer pastor's kids, worship leaders, etc., instead we are simply God's children, His precious beloved ones.
Yes, God called us to serve, to love people, to be productive, but that's not what makes Him love us.
When Jesus got baptized, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him and Father God said, "This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased." God told Jesus that He loved Him and is pleased with Him even before Jesus really did anything yet!
We need to trust in God and rest in Him, He is not a God who tells us "toughen up, will you?!" when we are exhausted; no, He is a God who tells us "Let all who are tired and weary come to me, and they will find rest in me."
AMEN!!!
It was a really great first meeting, I look forward to the small group gatherings!
God is SO Good!!!
Monday, March 10
Living The Word
Ok, here's something I'm gonna try: I'm going to take a verse from the Bible, find out at least five ways of applying it to my life, and apply the verse using a different way every day from Monday to Friday!
And the verse of the week is...*drum roll*:
"For, 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'" (Romans10:13)
And for Monday I'm applying this verse in my life by:
Calling out to Jesus out loud or in my head whenever I feel temptation, whenever I want to procrastinate, whenever I don't want to do devotion, etc.
So today I woke up starving and I wanted to eat breakfast, but I realized that I needed to spend time with God first and give this day to Him. I was struggling, so I cried out to Jesus for strength and I was able to put God first and food second.
At 10:30am I went online to register for Spring Quarter's classes, many classes have been filled already, so I prayed for God to please please let me be able to get into my bio37 class, and I did! Right after I enrolled the class became full.
In the afternoon, I hurried to turn in my housing contract before class and I saw this girl sitting by herself. She had a cast on one foot and had crutches. My heart pounded as I approached, "I'm in a hurry God! I can't do this now!" I thought, but I called upon the Lord to take away my fear and I went up to her. The girl accepted my prayer and told me that she had surgery on her foot and the doctor says it would take six weeks for it to heal, so I commanded in Jesus' name for it to heal. We don't know if she's healed because her foot is in a cast, but praise the Lord of miracles!
Tomorrow I'll use another way to live out Romans10:13, can't wait!
______________________________________________________________________________________
"For, 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?...As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'" (Romans 10: 13~15)
It's time to shine for Jesus! There are people out there who want to be saved, who want to live differently, who want love, who want to find the purpose in life, but don't know how. So let's bring the good news everywhere we go!
And the verse of the week is...*drum roll*:
"For, 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'" (Romans10:13)
And for Monday I'm applying this verse in my life by:
Calling out to Jesus out loud or in my head whenever I feel temptation, whenever I want to procrastinate, whenever I don't want to do devotion, etc.
So today I woke up starving and I wanted to eat breakfast, but I realized that I needed to spend time with God first and give this day to Him. I was struggling, so I cried out to Jesus for strength and I was able to put God first and food second.
At 10:30am I went online to register for Spring Quarter's classes, many classes have been filled already, so I prayed for God to please please let me be able to get into my bio37 class, and I did! Right after I enrolled the class became full.
In the afternoon, I hurried to turn in my housing contract before class and I saw this girl sitting by herself. She had a cast on one foot and had crutches. My heart pounded as I approached, "I'm in a hurry God! I can't do this now!" I thought, but I called upon the Lord to take away my fear and I went up to her. The girl accepted my prayer and told me that she had surgery on her foot and the doctor says it would take six weeks for it to heal, so I commanded in Jesus' name for it to heal. We don't know if she's healed because her foot is in a cast, but praise the Lord of miracles!
Tomorrow I'll use another way to live out Romans10:13, can't wait!
______________________________________________________________________________________
"For, 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?...As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'" (Romans 10: 13~15)
It's time to shine for Jesus! There are people out there who want to be saved, who want to live differently, who want love, who want to find the purpose in life, but don't know how. So let's bring the good news everywhere we go!
Friday, March 7
Monday, March 3
Cool Encounter!!!
On Saturday morning, I started to pray for the city invasion I was going to do that afternoon.
At first I was just praying for the invasion, then I started to pray for more people to get saved in general, and then I found myself praying for my uncle's salvation.
All of a sudden, I heard this voice inside of me, it was a man's voice, full of power, passion, and authority:
"...And now I finally realize, that it's the Father's heart that burns our hearts, that it's the Father's fire, that sets us on fire...and by this we know that we are Yours Lord, we are Yours, because it is Your heart that burns our hearts...and I say let the gates of Heaven open up! OPEN UP I say... and let the Father's love fall down...come on, are you ready?!!...it's not about me or you, today...it's about JESUS...and HIS LOVE for the LOST, HIS HEALING for the SICK...so come on Jesus! Let Your fire fall down from Heaven we pray, LET THE FATHER'S LOVE POUR DOWN...!"
Those words just came, like someone praying, shouting, declaring inside me...I felt like I'm at a conference, with thousands of people worshiping and shouting out to God, the voice was like someone leading the worship; it sounded like Paul when he said:
"For Christ's love compels us..." (2 Corinthians5:14)
I was also singing songs like Gift of God, Majesty, Your Grace Is Enough,etc, and during intervals, just like during a conference worship, the voice prayed, shouted, declared, and led, I felt like I was one of the cheering, worshiping crowd, but I also felt like I was the one praying and leading the worship. I was dancing and worshiping like crazy, so filled with God's joy and love!
I've never experienced anything like this! This is so cool! The voice just came out of no where and gave me the words to pray with! God You're AWESOME!! Hallelujah!
Then in the afternoon, I went with mom to WholeFood Market, as she shopped, I wandered around and prayed for a lady. I was kind of disappointed that I only prayed for one person, but that doesn't matter, what matters is that God blessed and showed His love to that lady...Thank You LORD!!
"They will tell of the power of Your awesome works, and I will proclaim Your great deeds. They will celebrate Your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of Your righteousness." (Psalms145:6~7)
At first I was just praying for the invasion, then I started to pray for more people to get saved in general, and then I found myself praying for my uncle's salvation.
All of a sudden, I heard this voice inside of me, it was a man's voice, full of power, passion, and authority:
"...And now I finally realize, that it's the Father's heart that burns our hearts, that it's the Father's fire, that sets us on fire...and by this we know that we are Yours Lord, we are Yours, because it is Your heart that burns our hearts...and I say let the gates of Heaven open up! OPEN UP I say... and let the Father's love fall down...come on, are you ready?!!...it's not about me or you, today...it's about JESUS...and HIS LOVE for the LOST, HIS HEALING for the SICK...so come on Jesus! Let Your fire fall down from Heaven we pray, LET THE FATHER'S LOVE POUR DOWN...!"
Those words just came, like someone praying, shouting, declaring inside me...I felt like I'm at a conference, with thousands of people worshiping and shouting out to God, the voice was like someone leading the worship; it sounded like Paul when he said:
"For Christ's love compels us..." (2 Corinthians5:14)
I was also singing songs like Gift of God, Majesty, Your Grace Is Enough,etc, and during intervals, just like during a conference worship, the voice prayed, shouted, declared, and led, I felt like I was one of the cheering, worshiping crowd, but I also felt like I was the one praying and leading the worship. I was dancing and worshiping like crazy, so filled with God's joy and love!
I've never experienced anything like this! This is so cool! The voice just came out of no where and gave me the words to pray with! God You're AWESOME!! Hallelujah!
Then in the afternoon, I went with mom to WholeFood Market, as she shopped, I wandered around and prayed for a lady. I was kind of disappointed that I only prayed for one person, but that doesn't matter, what matters is that God blessed and showed His love to that lady...Thank You LORD!!
"They will tell of the power of Your awesome works, and I will proclaim Your great deeds. They will celebrate Your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of Your righteousness." (Psalms145:6~7)
Thursday, February 28
Would You Improv For God?
Are you one of the 5 Million + viewers who have checked out the 'Frozen Grand Central Station' You Tube video?
If you have seen it, you probably had some of the same reactions as I did. It's both fascinating and freaky weird as you see 200 improv actors simultaneously freeze in place at one of the busiest places on planet earth. They are 'frozen' in mid-step, picking up papers, and all of them have obviously been trained well to stay as motionless as possible.
I'm sure the stunt brought mixed reviews. You could see that some were annoyed (i.e., those with little to no sense of humor) - and others were probably convinced the aliens had finally landed and commenced with their global body snatching plan (i.e., those with way too much free time).
Would you ever do something like that? I think I might enjoy being part of a harmless public stunt - except of course in Grand Central Station, where I'm pretty sure you'd get your wallet or purse stolen if you froze for even 5 seconds.
It seems to me that most people just go about the daily grind with little outside thought until something creative and radical happens. It also seems to me that this is true in a spiritual sense with your friends who don't know Christ as well. Sure, maybe you've had a few 'talks' about God, but after a while it gets in a rut, and you never seem to get beyond a certain point - right?
Ah - but this video gives me an idea that just might help you in this area. No, freezing in place in a crowded public area is not what I had in mind, but doing something creative and radical for God publicly in front of your friends is one of the best 'rut killers' around. For most people these days, the God talk tends to remain just that...talk...that is until it's backed up with radical action.
And it's not like this is a new plan or anything. It's actually one of the primary strategies that people in the Bible have used for centuries. Here's a short list:
Noah - built a gihugical boat. How is that radical? Well, since it had probably never rained or flooded before, the entire population of the world thought Noah was one French fry short of a Happy Meal. But aren't you glad he went ahead with his public project? Yep, he saved civilization.
Joseph - dared to tell the Pharaoh of Egypt that he could interpret dreams. If he blew it, he'd be toast inside a few seconds. But he went ahead with the triple dog dare, and - oh yes, saved civilization.
Daniel - threw open the shutters of his home and prayed to the God that was despised by the all his neighbors - even though it could bring him the death penalty. And it did. Only instead of death, he gained some new furry friends in the lion's den.
I could go on and on - but do you know who completed the most radical and life changing public act of all time? You guessed it - God Himself. He was so desperate and crazy in love with the people of planet earth that He came down here wrapped in flesh. He lived a perfect public (and private) life, led a miraculous public ministry (can you say feeding 5000 folks from 5 loaves of bread and two sardines?), and of course, He died one of the most cruel - and public- deaths that you could ever imagine. Oh yeah, then He came back from the grave and appeared in public to over 500 people in 40 days.
Talk about a radical and creative way to get people's attention for God!
And it worked. Now it's your turn. Auction off your iPod to give money to the poor, skip a movie and volunteer at a homeless shelter. Start a public blog that does nothing but investigate the claims of Jesus. Pass out pro-life flyers near an abortion clinic. Use your imagination - but keep it completely motivated by this message:
For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
Freezing in Grand Central Station is cool - but even cooler would be to do something that caught the attention of people around you and turned it - not to You Tube...but to the God who wants an eternal relationship with them.
Head: What you need to know about this truth
People who don't have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ need to see radical and creative evidence of vital and authentic Christianity.
Heart: What you need to feel about this truth
Simple question: If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough physical evidence to convict you? If not - perhaps it's time for a heart check and a lifestyle shift.
Hands: What you need to do about this truth
Write down a few ideas you have about radical and creative ways to show the world that you are a Christian, then get together with your youth leader and youth group to discuss how you could put those ideas into action.
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The above article came from www.dare2share.org
Wednesday, February 27
Fools For God's Kingdom
Yesterday afternoon I prayed before I went on campus invasion.
I saw a vision of myself tossing fistfuls of heart-shaped seeds into the soil here and there. Then gigantic trees, enormous flowers, and other exotic plants started to sprout from the ground with astonishing speed, turning the barren land into an abundant garden.
A garden of God's love.
I was so excited.
And so I left my dorm and walked towards the main campus. Before I even left the residential area I met my friend Mary.
"Hey Alice, going to class?" she asked
"No...um...just, taking a walk" I answered
So Mary decided to come along. I didn't have the courage to tell her I was on a mission to pray for strangers. She would think I'm a religious nut, a freak! I thought to myself.
We went to Starbucks, got drinks, then went on a walk at Mesa Court (a really nice residential place with lots of artsy stuff, picnic areas, etc.)
Wait, what are you doing Alice? You're suppose to do campus invasion!...Never mind, then at least use this time to share your testimony with Mary!
But in the end, after all the internal struggle, I didn't share anything about Jesus or how He changed my life to Mary.
Afterwards, exhausted and frustrated, I sat down in my room and remembered what Jaeson Ma said during the Supernatural On Campus Conference:
"The Lord gave me the words, 'Killed In Action'. He killed my reputation, pride, and desire to be respected by Christians on that campus...We have no reputation when we go out to evangelize, we are fools for God's kingdom!"
Lord please forgive my pride, once again I forgot that I was supposed to carry my cross and follow You at all costs (even if it meant having Mary think I'm weird or being rejected by strangers)
God! Love means giving without holding back! Jesus Your love was so strong that no amount of suffering could stop You! Lord please help me to love like You do!
I have got to realize that it is normal and expected to be persecuted and hated by all men if I were to share the gospel. I'm not even hated and already I'm scared. Jesus You loved, You healed, You taught, You saved, You gave Your all! God help me to follow You to the end, help me to be bold in loving Your people and telling them about Your Son, Jesus Christ.
"I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak..." (Ezekiel 34: 16)
I saw a vision of myself tossing fistfuls of heart-shaped seeds into the soil here and there. Then gigantic trees, enormous flowers, and other exotic plants started to sprout from the ground with astonishing speed, turning the barren land into an abundant garden.
A garden of God's love.
I was so excited.
And so I left my dorm and walked towards the main campus. Before I even left the residential area I met my friend Mary.
"Hey Alice, going to class?" she asked
"No...um...just, taking a walk" I answered
So Mary decided to come along. I didn't have the courage to tell her I was on a mission to pray for strangers. She would think I'm a religious nut, a freak! I thought to myself.
We went to Starbucks, got drinks, then went on a walk at Mesa Court (a really nice residential place with lots of artsy stuff, picnic areas, etc.)
Wait, what are you doing Alice? You're suppose to do campus invasion!...Never mind, then at least use this time to share your testimony with Mary!
But in the end, after all the internal struggle, I didn't share anything about Jesus or how He changed my life to Mary.
Afterwards, exhausted and frustrated, I sat down in my room and remembered what Jaeson Ma said during the Supernatural On Campus Conference:
"The Lord gave me the words, 'Killed In Action'. He killed my reputation, pride, and desire to be respected by Christians on that campus...We have no reputation when we go out to evangelize, we are fools for God's kingdom!"
Lord please forgive my pride, once again I forgot that I was supposed to carry my cross and follow You at all costs (even if it meant having Mary think I'm weird or being rejected by strangers)
God! Love means giving without holding back! Jesus Your love was so strong that no amount of suffering could stop You! Lord please help me to love like You do!
I have got to realize that it is normal and expected to be persecuted and hated by all men if I were to share the gospel. I'm not even hated and already I'm scared. Jesus You loved, You healed, You taught, You saved, You gave Your all! God help me to follow You to the end, help me to be bold in loving Your people and telling them about Your Son, Jesus Christ.
"I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak..." (Ezekiel 34: 16)
Monday, February 25
It's ALL ABOUT HIS LOVE!!
After writing class I went back to my dorm and started to pray for my school.
The small room was stuffy and my stomach was growling, but once I opened my mouth to praise Him, everything else melted away and it was just me and God.
As I paced back and forth, I saw the scripture I posted on my wall:
The small room was stuffy and my stomach was growling, but once I opened my mouth to praise Him, everything else melted away and it was just me and God.
As I paced back and forth, I saw the scripture I posted on my wall:
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.
When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
(Matthew9:35~36)
When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
(Matthew9:35~36)
And my heart started pounding; I mean, the Almighty came down Himself to heal His people and tell them of the good news. Jesus was filled with love and compassion when He looked at His people; His heart was moved when He saw how harassed and helpless His beloved children were!
Lord please let me see what You see and feel what You feel! Fill me with Your compassion, that I'll have the boldness to pray for strangers, to release Your power of healing, of signs and wonders in my school!...God, it's ALL ABOUT YOUR LOVE!...Jesus, it's ALL ABOUT YOUR LOVE for Your children!...Lord let Your love flow in this place, let Your love sweep across the whole campus that the roots of darkness, the roots of spiritual strongholds will be dug out and burnt!
We need Your love so much God! We need Your salvation, Jesus! Lord let me be a channel of love, that I'll love Your people!
It is time to start a Love Movement, in our schools, workplaces, and families! Because it is not about us, but ALL ABOUT HIS LOVE!
Lord please let me see what You see and feel what You feel! Fill me with Your compassion, that I'll have the boldness to pray for strangers, to release Your power of healing, of signs and wonders in my school!...God, it's ALL ABOUT YOUR LOVE!...Jesus, it's ALL ABOUT YOUR LOVE for Your children!...Lord let Your love flow in this place, let Your love sweep across the whole campus that the roots of darkness, the roots of spiritual strongholds will be dug out and burnt!
We need Your love so much God! We need Your salvation, Jesus! Lord let me be a channel of love, that I'll love Your people!
It is time to start a Love Movement, in our schools, workplaces, and families! Because it is not about us, but ALL ABOUT HIS LOVE!
Monday, February 11
Is God Cruel?
When I read Joshuah 6~10, I was shocked by all the bloody and violent wars, the way Joshuah slaughtered the people young and old, stoned a sinner along with his wife and children to death, hung the dead bodies of the kings he killed, etc. It was scary, cruel, and disturbing.
"How could You be so cruel Lord? You don't even spare the widowed, the elderly, or the young. Why should that sinner's innocent children and wife suffer such a torturous death? If that's what people who disobey You deserve, then no one on this earth can escape Your wrath. Would You have slaughtered me as well for my sins?"
At first I thought it was so wrong and savage and @#@$% for God to just kill and kill in the Old Testament, but then I remembered that God is the One who gave life, and He has every right to take it away.
Then I realized just how patient and merciful God has been with the world today. I mean, in the Old Testament, people get killed for the "smallest" sins. Yet right now the earth is covered with sins: child prostitution, abortion, idol worship, and things that should have caused God to wipe out the entire human race. The Old Testament showed me just how horrid and unacceptable sin is to God.
Lord You are just and right in all You do, I praise You for Jesus Christ, for Your mercy, Your grace, and Your salvation. Lord bless America, have mercy on this nation, and turn her around from sin. Jesus may You use Your people to shine the light of Christ's love onto America, and to bring more souls to salvation.
Like Pastor Kong Hee said, "How do we push back the darkness? By taking cities for God; whenever one soul gets saved, that city gets a little brighter". Lord I pray that Your love will chase away the darkness one soul at a time, one city at a time, one region at a time.
"I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." (John12:46)
"How could You be so cruel Lord? You don't even spare the widowed, the elderly, or the young. Why should that sinner's innocent children and wife suffer such a torturous death? If that's what people who disobey You deserve, then no one on this earth can escape Your wrath. Would You have slaughtered me as well for my sins?"
At first I thought it was so wrong and savage and @#@$% for God to just kill and kill in the Old Testament, but then I remembered that God is the One who gave life, and He has every right to take it away.
Then I realized just how patient and merciful God has been with the world today. I mean, in the Old Testament, people get killed for the "smallest" sins. Yet right now the earth is covered with sins: child prostitution, abortion, idol worship, and things that should have caused God to wipe out the entire human race. The Old Testament showed me just how horrid and unacceptable sin is to God.
Lord You are just and right in all You do, I praise You for Jesus Christ, for Your mercy, Your grace, and Your salvation. Lord bless America, have mercy on this nation, and turn her around from sin. Jesus may You use Your people to shine the light of Christ's love onto America, and to bring more souls to salvation.
Like Pastor Kong Hee said, "How do we push back the darkness? By taking cities for God; whenever one soul gets saved, that city gets a little brighter". Lord I pray that Your love will chase away the darkness one soul at a time, one city at a time, one region at a time.
"I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." (John12:46)
Sunday, February 3
A Lesson For A Control Freak
Ha ha! I am BACK! I haven't blogged for almost TWO months, bad Alice.
But God is good (changing the subject), and here's what's been going on:
The Lord has been shaping me, renewing me, and teaching me. He taught me that I had been self-centered in the past, always praying for what I want and not what He wants.
I want to be mature, I want to love more, I want to have the strength to go on, I want to be more diligent, I want to be closer to You, I want to feel Your love, I want to ace that midterm, I want my Dad to be saved...
Me, me, me, me, me, it was all about my desires. I was unwilling to listen to God, unwilling to let Him be the Lord in my life. I mean praying about those things are good, but my prayers lacked a very important thing: listening to Jesus. I wanted to control my own life instead of letting God take control.
The Lord reminded me to once again pray for His guidance, for His will, for His plans for me and to listen to Him.
I have sort of treated Jesus like a genie, whom I can pray to for my wishes to come true. It's time to stop all that nonsense and to let Jesus be the Lord in my life again.
Father what do You want to do in my life this year? What do you want to do in my school? What do you want me to do in Impact, in seven eleven?
Thank You Jesus, for being such a good leader of air-head followers like me! God You are good! You are always GOOD!
"If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me. You right hand will hold me fast." (Psalms139: 9~10)
But God is good (changing the subject), and here's what's been going on:
The Lord has been shaping me, renewing me, and teaching me. He taught me that I had been self-centered in the past, always praying for what I want and not what He wants.
I want to be mature, I want to love more, I want to have the strength to go on, I want to be more diligent, I want to be closer to You, I want to feel Your love, I want to ace that midterm, I want my Dad to be saved...
Me, me, me, me, me, it was all about my desires. I was unwilling to listen to God, unwilling to let Him be the Lord in my life. I mean praying about those things are good, but my prayers lacked a very important thing: listening to Jesus. I wanted to control my own life instead of letting God take control.
The Lord reminded me to once again pray for His guidance, for His will, for His plans for me and to listen to Him.
I have sort of treated Jesus like a genie, whom I can pray to for my wishes to come true. It's time to stop all that nonsense and to let Jesus be the Lord in my life again.
Father what do You want to do in my life this year? What do you want to do in my school? What do you want me to do in Impact, in seven eleven?
Thank You Jesus, for being such a good leader of air-head followers like me! God You are good! You are always GOOD!
"If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me. You right hand will hold me fast." (Psalms139: 9~10)
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